Talkeetna to Denali National Park, Alaska – 20 August 2024

One of the anticipated highlights of our trip was a visit to the Denali National Park and Preserve. This park is situated between Fairbanks and Anchorage in Interior Alaska, and is comprised of 6 million acres of wilderness terrain of tundra, spruce forest and glaciers, as well as many species of wildlife. In its center is the 20,310 ft high Denali (“the high one” ) North America’s tallest peak.

It was unfortunate that during our three days in the area, it poured continuously with high winds, low lying clouds and REALLY cold weather. We got to experience a taste of its subarctic climate when in Winter it drops to -40c. We did get into the park one late afternoon however, and stopped at the Visitors centre to pick up some hiking maps. Then we drove as far as we could into the park to the Savage River trailhead parking lot. Only buses can proceed further into the park from that point. As Jax was with us we could not hike the Savage River trail but were able to get out of the car along the way and photograph some of the beautiful fall coloured scenery. Then we drove back to the Visitor’s centre and took Jax for a walk along the Roadside trail. This trail runs parallel to the road we had just driven in, through forest. On one of the other days we also went for a walk from the campsite along the Antler Ridge trail which led up to a ridge overlooking a river and some mountains below.

Denali park is very popular with tourists and has several bus trips going into the more remote areas of the park. There are of course lots of hiking and climbing opportunities – and deaths from climbers getting caught in blizzards. While we were here we were reminded of the tragic story as told in the movie and book “Into the Wild.” It was about Christopher McCandless who ventured into the wilderness in the Denali National Park in 1992 and settled in an abandoned bus he found in the park. He carried very little with him, hoping to live simply. Unfortunately his starved remains were found about 4 months later. The bus where his remains were found became a shrine in the park attracting people from around the world. We made a point of watching the movie that night – such a harsh environment, with such a sad ending. We found out in Fairbanks later on in our trip, that the bus had been airlifted from Denali to the Museum of the North in Fairbanks where it was being reconstructed and will eventually become an outside exhibit.

I was sad to leave this area and we had not managed to do any of the hiking we planned. Im hoping someday we can return and make up for it. Next time we will come earlier in the season and hopefully experience better weather.